I strted a thread about my Celestial Orb over on BG, but as it's currently incommunicado, I'm posting some progress pictures here- when Bg comes back, I'll link between then:

Main crew door: though I haven't quite worked out how we get from this hatch to the ground...

Some of the life support equipment: oxygen tanks, CO2 scrubbers, that sort of thing.

Cargo/fuel hatch: well, I'm not going to get all the coal and booty,er, archeological specimens through the small crew door, am I?

Cargo door open: note the complex linkages to seal the outer door, and the iris mechanism of the inner door.

Close up of the pipework linking the boilers to the combustion units: I was going to run this from the centre of the boiler plates, but on test fitting, that just looked silly, hence this more sensible arrangment.

You'll also have noticed some other added details, such as rails around the engines, don't worry, there's more where that came from!

Unless the panel below the hatch is permanently affixed to the surrounding panels, might that not open at the top and swing down to reveal a retracting ladder? (I'm thinking of something along the lines of an attic ladder that extends once the attic door is opened and swings down.)

I spent yesterday evening lightproofing the sphere- this involved undercoating it with white primer, and then applying a coat of silver (the metal particles help to make the paint opaque), followed by a coat of matt black; then, sitting in the dark with only the light of my monitor to help, I spent a pleasent few hours chasing away light leaks with some thick black acrylic paint and a no. 3 brush! My family now think I'm mad(der).

Today was spent adding rivets, well, hexagonal boltheads to be precise, but the effect is similar, then I started to apply some paint:

Note the illuminated windows.

Matt black undercoat, a mix of Citadel Tin Bitz and Dwarf Bronze airbrushed on top, with accents in a mix of the bronze and Mithril Silver, with shading and bolt 'dirt' added with matt black, I still need to go over the bolts with a drybrushing of a lighter bronze.

The actual engines are still in the base colour, they will be a bright brass/gold, with airbrushed heat blueing and soot.

and I still haven't sorted out a way of getting down from the hatches!

You know, once you're done with this project, it needs a nice Martian backdrop to set it off. Then it will make a lovely companion picture with your picture on the spaceship helmet thread. And if you're really feeling ambitious, you can create more projects along the same theme (what would a Spacepunk Martian Rover look like, for those sidetrips when you don't want to take the entire Celestial Orb with you?), and eventually we'll have enough to make Martian-themed photos to create a "Herr Doktor's Voyage to Mars" calendar....

Lady Penelope wrote:You know, once you're done with this project, it needs a nice Martian backdrop to set it off. Then it will make a lovely companion picture with your picture on the spaceship helmet thread. And if you're really feeling ambitious, you can create more projects along the same theme (what would a Spacepunk Martian Rover look like, for those sidetrips when you don't want to take the entire Celestial Orb with you?), and eventually we'll have enough to make Martian-themed photos to create a "Herr Doktor's Voyage to Mars" calendar....

Once again, Lady P, you've read my mind- (stop it, I don't want to shock you! ) I'm thinking of putting it under a glass dome, like an exhibit in some Museum of Victorian Space Science...

Smaggers wrote:Do you get some of your bits from EMA / Platstruct?

Why yes; by a cruel quirk of fate I used to go to school wth EMA's director, and I work just a five-minute drive from their warehouse in Shepperton...

...the reason this is cruel is that the nearest shop that stocks their products is twenty miles away, and they have a minimum order of £12 if you order direct!

professordevlin, emmeline_x, The Kernel, and Dusza Beben- thank you for your compliments, they're just the thing to spur me on to finish the d----d thing!

Wish I could make one... Alas I am restricted to my warhammer models. But I will soon have use of the University workshop... and my dreams will come to life!! For all to see!!! BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!! *ahem* Sorry.

Great news, Mr. Gazongola- I only hope that your studies won't be compromised!

Meanwhile, I've painted the engines:

I have to admit being very pleased with the result- I used a laquer called Alclad, which, if airbrushed over a high gloss black finish, gives the illusion of chrome; then coated with a dark orange tinted clearcoat; followed by a blue tinted clearcoat for the heat blueing, and finally some matt black airbrushed on for soot!

Also added the boiler covers, with barred viewports- these really need a red tinted transparency behind them, now, should I pop into the modelshop for some clear red PVC sheet, or go to the sweetie shop and get some sweeties with red wrappers? Decisions, decisions!

Last edited by Herr Döktor on Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:07 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Dropped an 'n'.)

Herr Döktor wrote:Also added the boiler covers, with barred viewports- these really need a red tinted transparency behind them, now, should I pop into the modelshop for some clear red PVC sheet, or go to the sweetie shop and get some sweeties with red wrappers? Decisions, decisions!

What about doing something with flickering red/orange LEDs? Or would that be a little too over-the-top?